A legislative task force is studying the feasibility and potential consequences of authorizing driving privilege cards to immigrants living in Delaware without legal permission.

A legislative task force is studying the feasibility and potential consequences of authorizing driving privilege cards to immigrants living in Delaware without legal permission.

As envisioned, the cards would sanction undocumented immigrants who pass road, written and vision exams to drive on Delaware roads, register cars and obtain insurance. The state-issued cards would not suffice as federal identification.

Advocates contend that driving privilege cards would improve public safety because unlicensed motorists are already on the road – untrained, untested and uninsured – and contributing to rising costs for drivers who are insured.

"It's a politically charged issue. I totally understand that. But I don't have interest in putting my head in the sand and pretending this problem doesn't exist," said state Sen. Bryan Townsend, D-Newark, co-chair of the task force.

"These are people who are members of our community and who contribute to our community. This would ensure that folks who are stopped for any reason – traffic infractions or maybe they're involved in an accident – that they won't fear getting stopped."

Opponents worry the cards would be mistaken as valid forms of ID, or that some would take advantage of the less-stringent vetting process to establish a fake identity.

"Even though it won't be an identification card, it will be identifying a person with a picture and a name, and give a government-sanctioned privilege to someone who's breaking the law to begin with," said Republican Sen. Brian Pettyjohn, former mayor of Georgetown.

"My constituents can't believe the state is even entertaining something like this."

The state has no mechanism for issuing driver's licenses or IDs to undocumented individuals living here, estimated at roughly 35,000 by the state Division of Motor Vehicles.

Townsend expects the 27-member task force to present its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly by Oct. 31.

The panel, which met for the first time last week, includes representatives from the DMV, law enforcement, the Attorney General's Office, the Hispanic community, the insurance industry and various chambers of commerce.

Until recently, only Utah, New Mexico and Nevada allowed immigrants in the country illegally to obtain driver's licenses.

Urged by immigrant advocates, eight states and the District of Columbia last year passed laws authorizing the issuance of driver's licenses regardless of immigration status, said Melissa Keaney, staff attorney for the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles.

"It signals a shift in these states of their becoming more inclusive of immigrant communities and allowing individuals who are already working, living and raising families there to get where they're going safely," Keaney said.

In Maryland, where the law took effect Jan. 1, more than 13,000 immigrants had signed up to take driving tests in the weeks leading up to implementation, according to news reports.

There's lessons to be learned from these other jurisdictions, Delaware officials say.

Since Nevada's law took effect last month, more than 75 percent of undocumented residents showing up were failing the exams, said Jennifer Cohan, executive director of the Delaware DMV. In New Mexico, which has no proof of residency requirement, the governor is trying to repeal the law, linking it to an uptick in fraudulent activity and human trafficking there.

While it would be the issuing agency, the DMV isn't taking a position on whether or not driving privilege cards would be effective or feasible in Delaware.

But the agency has suggestions: Require two years worth of tax returns for proof of residency, like Maryland does, and completion of written, vision and road tests. The cards would expire after four years.

"If we do this, we want to do it correctly and in the best interest of those Delaware citizens that could benefit from this," Cohan said.

She is adamant the initiative should not jeopardize Delaware's compliance with the federal Real ID Act of 2005, which led to Delaware's use of facial recognition software, document verification and other security measures at every DMV counter.

The process of obtaining a driving-privilege card would not be as thorough and would prove nothing about an individual's identity – only that the person is qualified to operate a vehicle in Delaware, said Mike Williams, a DMV spokesman.

"The card would be designed to look vastly different than a Delaware's driver's license, so there would be no mistaking the two," Williams said.

Claudia Peña Porretti of the community service group La Esperanza Inc. in Georgetown said the benefits of driving privileges go beyond fewer crashes and lower insurance rates.

"We can know people, and they'll have the opportunity to have ID while living in the U.S.," said Poretti, who sits on the task force.

"The majority of individuals living in the U.S. are willing to abide by the rules of the road – so much so, that they're willing to risk being identified and come out of the shadows."